First I'll tell you about myself:
I graduated with a degree in microbiology from a reputable university last May, and I have hundreds of hours of medically relevant extracurricular activities under my belt. During college, I was that student who wasn't able to put in as much time as desired into my studies, not out of laziness, but because I was forced to carry 2-3 jobs throughout college (averaging ~55 hours/week 1st and 2nd year, ~35 hours/week 3rd and 4th year). In essence, I was stretched very thin, but that didn't hinder me from putting forth 100% effort when I could. I applied very late last year to MD and DO schools, no interviews. I applied to 19 US schools in August this cycle, nothing so far.

To improve my app for medical school:
I have been performing pediatric oncology clinical research at a local hospital as well as volunteering since graduating college. I have been studying for and will be retaking the MCAT on January 28th, and I am also enrolled to retake two undergraduate courses next semester to improve my GPA to 3.23 science, 3.27 overall.

Carib MD?
You know they say that mistakes in life are only mistakes if you don't learn from them, and I have definitely learned from my experiences and I'm ready to move on. I'm extremely motivated and confident in my ability to excel in medical school and as a future practicing physician. My dream is to practice medicine and I will do my best to achieve it, no matter what that entails. After thorough research, I figured Carib MD is the way to go for me. My university pre-med advisor suggested that I apply to SGU, Ross, and AUC, and she warned against applying to SABA. Due to financial constraints, I will not be able to attend SGU, Ross, or AUC, although SABA's drastically more affordable program is feasible for me.

1. I would like to know if I would currently be considered for matriculating into the Fall 2012 class with my stats if I were to apply to SABA, say, today?

2. Will current SABA students or accepted future students please post their GPA+MCAT for comparison purposes?

3. Will current/former SABA students please share with us their success/failure stories, their residency matches, and just the general experience they had while at SABA?

You know they say that mistakes in life are only mistakes if you don't learn from them, and I have definitely learned from my experiences and I'm ready to move on. I'm extremely motivated and confident in my ability to excel in medical school and as a future practicing physician. My dream is to practice medicine and I will do my best to achieve it, no matter what that entails. After thorough research, I figured Carib MD is the way to go for me. My university pre-med advisor suggested that I apply to SGU, Ross, and AUC, and she warned against applying to SABA. Due to financial constraints, I will not be able to attend SGU, Ross, or AUC, although SABA's drastically more affordable program is feasible for me.

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Are you not a US citizen?

I'm wondering why you are unable to attend SGU, Ross, or AUC because of "financial constraints??"

I'm wondering why you are unable to attend SGU, Ross, or AUC because of "financial constraints??"

There are federal loans available for those 3 schools.

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I am a US citizen, but it's against my religion to take loans that involve paying interest, and I can't fork over ~$60,000/year otherwise. Going to SABA costs ~$40,000/year, so that's significantly more realistically affordable for my family and I.

I am a US citizen, but it's against my religion to take loans that involve paying interest, and I can't fork over ~$60,000/year otherwise. Going to SABA costs ~$40,000/year, so that's significantly more realistically affordable for my family and I.

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Its against your actual religion? What religion is that?

I can really only answer the 3rd question you asked.
I was accepted with a 3.1cGPA 3.3sGPA and a 29, but I turned it down to go to AUC instead.

I think you should be able to get in. Nothing to lose by putting in an application right?
I was accepted with a 3.3 undergrad gpa, 4.0 gpa in grad school, and a 23S MCAT, and a ton of research and extracurriculars. The admissions process is pretty quick so you can just apply

I think you should be able to get in. Nothing to lose by putting in an application right?
I was accepted with a 3.3 undergrad gpa, 4.0 gpa in grad school, and a 23S MCAT, and a ton of research and extracurriculars. The admissions process is pretty quick so you can just apply

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Are you a current student there? How did you like the program & life on Saba?

To my knowledge(which is coming from well-experienced guys), as long as you are a graduate of a non-US med school, you are in the same pool for the health institutions' directors, when they are evaluating you for residency, never mind they are Carib or European (even some are not even considering grads of Carib schools altogether, though many others give a chance). So I think the most important point may be

1) Does the school provide rotations in US?
2) Do they prepare you for USMLE (or is the system complying with US system)?
3) Cost

1) Regarding that you are a US citizen, some schools in EU are providing rotations in US to US citizens, so by that regard EU=Carib schools (even better, since some Carib schools are nominally send you to US for rotation, but the institute may come out to be so limited in experience. I dont know how SABA though, but the quality of rotation would very important for me.)

2) EU schools dont provide this, (though one school have USMLE courses as well, but actually it is a 7-week course and not sufficent to me). If you chose an EU school, you will have to prepare for USMLE paralelly to your curricular studies; but the contents are provided in curricula, albeit not in the form of USMLE.

3) Comparing with Carib schools, cost drops a lot in EU schools.

Here are some of them(there are others as well); I gathered a summary list for myself and placed in my blog for others' use as well:http://medical-schools.blogspot.com/
(in the next page there are other schools as well)

Especially Jagiellonian in Poland, Charles 1st Faculty in Czech Republic and Semmelweis in Hungary are known as the bests in the region.

Hi Dr. Aboody,
Do me one favor, please retake your MCAT, and apply broadly and Early to DO schools. I was just accepted to LECOM (tuition <30k/yr) with a 3.18s/c overall, and a 3.83c/3.91s PB. I had to raise my GPA from a 2.8 to be considered. You also should make sure your personal statement is solid, because that is another issue. I would like to ask, I have several friends who are Muslim and needed loans, how did they do it? I applaud your efforts, which is why I'm suggesting LECOM, additionally if you take out debt with interest but didn't have to pay it back would that work? I ask because of the loan repayment programs that are available... Best of luck!

Hi Dr. Aboody,
Do me one favor, please retake your MCAT, and apply broadly and Early to DO schools. I was just accepted to LECOM (tuition <30k/yr) with a 3.18s/c overall, and a 3.83c/3.91s PB. I had to raise my GPA from a 2.8 to be considered. You also should make sure your personal statement is solid, because that is another issue. I would like to ask, I have several friends who are Muslim and needed loans, how did they do it? I applaud your efforts, which is why I'm suggesting LECOM, additionally if you take out debt with interest but didn't have to pay it back would that work? I ask because of the loan repayment programs that are available... Best of luck!

I'm actually now studying to retake the MCAT on January 28th. My GPA is very similar to yours, and I will be retaking a few classes next semester to bring it up to the 3.2s/c range. Personal statement is solid according to several different, successful sources. I applied to LECOM but was rejected at both the Erie and Bradenton campuses. I will be supplying them with my January MCAT scores, in case they decide to reconsider my application.

As for loans.. There are usually several ways to go about it. The first alternative is a loan from an Islamic bank, which doesn't charge interest on the loan, but does charge a large set percentage on the amount borrowed. Secondly, one could borrow money from trusted family/friends and pay it back within a certain time period. Thirdly, as you mentioned, loan repayment programs, which would require you to pursue the Ph.D. along with your M.D./D.O., and for some of us who aren't interested in the Ph.D., it means years off of your lifetime as a physician, husband, father, etc. And lastly, certain medical schools offer financial incentives for those agreeing to provide medical care in their specialty on a full time basis to a designated population after completing their residency training program, which ties them down for the same duration as they received these financial awards, generally up to 3 years.

I'm going with choice #2. However, contrary to what Islam teaches us from the Quran and Hadith, there still exists a large amount of Muslims who believe it is permissible to pay interest on loans if that loan is for educational purposes or buying their first home. So it really just depends on how willing a person is to "bend" the rules of his/her religion in order to gain a worldly benefit. I am no expert on this topic, and ultimately, it is between each individual and God.

Your success is inspiring. If you don't mind me asking, what did you make on your MCAT and what was your post-bac in?

My MCAT was a 26Q (7p, 10b, 9v) with no classes and not much studying other than taking practice tests. My PB work was self-done at the school I graduated from and some other state schools in my area. I already have a BS in Biomedical sciences, so I really just needed to take UL sciences to make sure I had a solid GPA boost, and a solid 'recent science coursework' Your MCAT is what is holding you back, and if you get your GPA up it should be a better shot next year. I am excited, as I have been trying to get to this point for a long time. Best of luck to you and your family, and you are free to PM me if you want any other info. Also, I suggest trying the Non-trad forum for inspiration and advice!

I was just accepted to SUSOM's May 2012 class!! Thank you God Almighty!
Good luck to the rest of you, feel free to pm me if you have any questions regarding the interview!

SBB2016,
I'm still holding out for DO acceptances, but at least I can take a decent sigh of relief for now. I appreciate your concern and encouragement!

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Hi There,
I will give you some actual facts about Saba University.
I am a 4th semester, and I will tell you this, I hate this school... and I am not the only one...my class has less then 40% of students, that start at 115. The professors are a big joke.. It's getting worse by the day. if you good to understand the heavy accent , that sometimes is almost impossible to do...you will also have to be good understanding wtf they are trying to teach... My friend whom is on 3rd semester now, told us about this professor he had on 2nd semester ,Dr.Servates....OMG?..he said that this professor tries to teach biochemistry and genetics with no success , is seems that he is unforgettable, everyone HATES him, he is so awful, that you just don't understand what he says... At all...his tests are a joke...there are bad grammar, he likes to screw students over, he threats them , if someone complaint about him he will find out, and it will be consequences...
Some brave students wrote letter to the dean complaining about ,but of course nothing got done....btw, the dean of the school was a professor from AUC that was booted out for poor academics skills... so now you understand why there are so many bad professors here.
What Saba professors like to do:
- they trick you on the test, asking things that were never taught,
-they also teach you more then you should know,they keep you in the school all day long. and good luck trying to learn al the material poorly taught in class with so little time left to study. they give you so much information that you will not have time to do anything else. In you life. You will be tested up to 4 subjects in 1 day, mondays are normally the days and you will have classes after your test .
Students here have , no voice , no help, no support... I have never seen something like that in my entire life... you will definitely get what you pay for... just an advice, save your money and don't come to this place, you may spend more, after coming here and realizing that you should've applied to other schools as well. I am transfering to AUC. thank God... I am getting out of this hole.
The 1 semester class that started in January 2012, was 120 students 25 are already gone..
this is Saba for you... maybe you should apply to an school that is pro students...
In a class of 120 only 45 will finish the course... is this something to be proud about???
I hope you reconsidered and @ least try AUC ( more expensive , but better school) or AUA (which is almost the same tuition as Saba)
Good Luck
A.

Administering interest by banks or financial organizations is against Islam. That's why an ideal Islamic bank would not charge you interest.

But that doesn't mean it's a bad thing for you to pay interest off, if you took the loan off from something else. Congrats on your acceptance!

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lol I always love the religious cherry picking ... oh I won't eat pork but I'll shotgun beers ... oh I won't pay loans but I'll roll up a doobie and smoke it....
Also @OP, if you are still waiting for DO acceptances then why did you bring up the whole point about loans etc? You will def. need to take out loans especially for DO since the tab is 250K+.... unless you got that kinda cash up front